“The first (Monaco) accident in practice was our fault,” Lopez told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport. ‘The tyre pressures were wrong and we did not tell him. The second crash was comparable to Massa’s — we believe both were distracted by a car coming out of the pits.’

‘From that, he was under pressure for the rest of the weekend. The speed was there,’ said Lopez, adding that hurried repairs meant Grosjean’s car was ‘not really perfect’ for the race.

Lopez said that the crash with Ricciardo was caused by frustration.

“Romain is not a guy who can drive behind [other drivers] [only] for so long, especially when he knows that he could be so much further forward,’ he said.

Romain Grosjean with broken front wing

He said that Lotus continues to believe in Grosjean, but smiled as he likened the French driver to a talented football player ‘who is constantly getting stupid injuries’.

‘He’s super fast in anything with four wheels – he would be quick with a shopping cart. He is a natural talent and there are not too many others like him; Hulkenberg, Bianchi but I can’t think of many others,’ said Lopez.

Meanwhile, Grosjean said he believes that his ten-place penalty for the Ricciardo crash is harsh.

As for his mixed 2013 season so far, he said: ‘On paper it’s not as good as we would have wanted it to be, but I’m happy with all my performances so far except for Monaco.’